U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,429, issued March, 1993, to the assignee of the present invention is hereby incorporated by reference. The '429 patent describes systems and methods for printing multiple images where the size of paper stock on which the multiple images are to be printed is determined and the maximum number of images that can be printed on the paper stock without interference is calculated.
The cost of printing a job varies depending on several factors. These include (but are not limited to) the cost of the media (with glossy, heavy weight paper costing more than uncoated lightweight paper), the click charge and the prepress programming time spent in getting the job to print. Printers can manage costs by ensuring that jobs get printed on the cheapest possible media. Although not appropriate for every job, portions of print jobs can and should be printed on the cheapest media available. Printers can manage costs by recording the smallest click charge per letter-sized document printed. In general a click charge for a tabloid sheet of paper will be less than twice the click charge for a letter sheet of paper. Printing a letter document 2-up on a tabloid sheet of paper and then cutting it in a bindery can result in substantial total cost savings.
With current processes, the print engine operator often handles media selection while the prepress operator typically handles imposition. The decision to impose a document is determined by how much time would be spent modifying the original source document. Documents that are too difficult to impose upstream would consume any click charge savings at prepress time. Imposing documents at the digital front end (DFE) would require an operator that understood imposition. This option may not be feasible for low-skilled workers. Also, imposing at the DFE provides additional room for operator error and the associated lost productivity on the print engine.
Programming job parameters associated with document imposition remains one of the more complicated aspects of job programming printing control systems. This complexity impacts the users' ability to properly program impositions parameters and their ability to include imposition as part of a more automated workflow.
In general, less-experienced system users utilize trial and error routines when selecting imposition parameters. Such routines often result in a user selecting imposition parameters, printing an imposed document, inspecting the printed document to make sure that it has printed as expected/desired, and repeating the process with adjusted imposition parameters should the printout not be acceptable. With automated workflows, imposition complexity causes automatic document imposition during printing operations to be a challenge. Usually, queue parameters are deterministic; therefore, an imposition queue for letter portrait, saddle stitched documents printing landscape on tabloid media can only process jobs that are letter portrait and need to be printed as a landscape document on tabloid media. If a user needs to print the same documents with a bleed, they would have to send it to a queue that is configured to print to 12×18 media.
Print shops with automated workflows end up creating a very large number of queues, each with slightly different imposition parameters, because automatic imposition has stringent requirements for input document characteristics and desired imposition. The large number of queues can become unwieldy to manage while also increasing the chance for routing jobs to the incorrect queue.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a better method of managing imposition programming and printing one media with automated cost considerations. The inventors believe that printers can be programmed to better manage costs by both ensuring that jobs are programmed for the cheapest media possible and also by imposing documents so they print on larger pieces of paper (which can be cut down to size at a later time).